I basically like to share whatever is on my mind at any given moment. Hopefully it will be something that makes you think, but don't hold your breath.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Obey God, Not Man

My family and I are on a quest to better follow God's Torah (instructions). Among them is the keeping of, or setting apart, God's Sabbath Day. From the very beginning, God (I will sometimes use YHWH) established the seventh day of the week to be set apart, or holy:

By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.

Genesis 2:2-3

So why do most Christians not observe the seventh day, but instead consider the first day of the week to be the Sabbath? One of the resources that YHWH has used to teach my family comes from the 119 Ministries. They have a video teaching entitled The Sabbath Day. I highly recommend your watching this teaching. I have also heard the teaching from Tom Bradford's Genesis study found at www.torahclass.com/ Tom Bradford states: "Around the late 2nd century A.D., it became a goal of the now gentile dominated church to abandon anything that seemed to apply to the Jewish people, eventually in the 4th century the church officially abolished the Shabbat." (Shabbat is the Hebrew word for Sabbath) Tom encourages others to see the actual church documents that validate this statement, so I did. I searched for "Council of Laodicea document, 364" and came across this site, where I read the following:

CANON XXIX.

CHRISTIANS must not judaize by resting on the
Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's
Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any
shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.

CANON XXXVII.

IT is not lawful to receive portions sent from
the feasts of Jews or heretics, nor to feast together with them.

CANON XXXVIII.

IT is not lawful to receive unleavened bread from
the Jews, nor to be partakers of their impiety.

Even earlier than when the Council of Laodicea convened: "The Roman Emperor Constantine, a former sun worshiper, professed conversion to Christianity, though his subsequent actions suggest the 'conversion' was more of a political move than a genuine heart change. Constantine named himself Bishop of the Catholic Church and enacted the first civil law regarding Sunday observance in A.D. 321." (sabbathtruth.com) I then went to http://ecclesia.org/truth/sabbath-history.html where I read this:

15th Century. Norway

1. "We are informed that some people in different districts of the
kingdom, have adopted and observed Saturdaykeeping. It is severely
forbidden - in holy church canon - one and all to observe days excepting
those which the holy Pope, archbishop, or the bishops command.
Saturdaykeeping must under no circumstances be permitted hereafter
further than the church canon commands. Therefore, we counsel all the
friends of God throughout all Norway who want to be obedient towards the
holy church to let this evil of Saturdaykeeping alone; and the rest we
forbid under penalty of severe church punishment to keep Saturday holy."
Catholic Provincial Council at Bergen. 1435 Dip. Norveg., 7, 397.

and this:

16th Century. Council of Trent

1. "On the 18th of January, 1563, the Council of Trent ruled that
Tradition is greater than Scripture, after a powerful speech by the
Archbishop of Reggio, in which he said that the fact that the Church had
changed the Fourth Commandment clearly proved that Tradition was
greater than Scripture." H.J. Holtzman, Kanon und Tradition, 1859 edition, p. 263.
Matthew 15:3, 6-9. Jesus replied "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?", "
You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people
draws nigh unto me with their mouth, and honors me with their lips;
but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."

In the book History of the Sabbath, by J.N. Andrews, I read about the genesis of the Sunday sabbath doctrine: "The true doctrine of the Christian Sabbath was first promulgated by an English dissenter, the Rev. Nicholas Bound, D.D., of Norton, in the county of Suffolk. About the year 1595, he published a famous book entitled 'Sabbathum Veteris et Novi Testamenti', or 'The True Doctrine of the Sabbath'. In this book he maintained 'that the seventh part of our time ought to be devoted to God - that Christians are bound to rest on the Lord's day as much as the Jews were on the Mosaic Sabbath.'"

By the way, if you will notice the first Scripture I shared, YHWH set apart the Sabbath at creation - not with Moses. Moving on. J.N. Andrews continues: "Dr. Bound was not absolutely the inventor of the seventh-part-of-time theory; but he may be said rather to have gathered up and combined the scattered hints of his predecessors, and to have added to these something of his own production. His grounds for asserting Sunday to be the Sabbath of the fourth commandment are these:

That which is natural, namely, that every seventh day should be kept holy unto the Lord, that still remaineth: that which is positive, namely, that day which was the seventh day from the creation, should be the Sabbath, or day of rest, that is now changed in the church of God. (bold mine)

He says, that the meaning of the declaration, 'The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,' is this:

There must be one [day] of seven and not [one] of eight.

But the special key to the whole theory is in the statement that the seventh day in the commandment was "genus", that is to say, it was a kind of seventh day which comprehended several species of seventh days, at least two. Thus he says:

So, he maketh the seventh day to be genus in this commandment, and to be perpetual: and in it by virtue of the commandment to comprehend these two species or kinds: the Sabbath of the Jews and of the Gentiles, of the law and of the gospel: so that both of them were comprehended in the commandment, even as genus comprehendeth both his species.

Huh?!

J.N. Andrews explains: "He means to say that the fourth commandment enforces the seventh day from the creation to the resurrection of Christ, and since that enforces a different seventh day, namely, the seventh from Christ's resurrection. Such is the perverse ingenuity by which men can evade the law of God and yet make it appear that they are faithfully observing it."

When talking about changing the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, many people point to the Roman Catholic Church - with good reason. I went to check out the Catechism of the Catholic Church and read this:

"Sunday is
expressly distinguished from the sabbath which it follows
chronologically every week; for Christians its ceremonial observance
replaces that of the sabbath. In Christ’s Passover, Sunday fulfills the
spiritual truth of the Jewish sabbath and announces man’s eternal rest
in God. For worship under the Law prepared for the mystery of Christ,
and what was done there prefigured some aspects of Christ:Those who lived according to
the old order of things have come to a new hope, no longer keeping the
sabbath, but the Lord’s Day, in which our life is blessed by him and by
his death."But when you look to Scripture, it is extremely clear that YHWH established the Sabbath day - forever:

"And the Lord said to Moses, “You
are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep My Sabbaths, for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your
generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You
shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who
profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that
soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore
the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath
throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between Me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed." Exodus 31:12-17I don't know about you, but the arrogant statements made by the men quoted above gave me chills (and there are many more)! It astounds me to think that mere men had the audacity to usurp YHWH's authority! Having participated all of my life in something that was NOT ordained by Him has really been quite sobering for me. Now that I know and clearly see in Scripture that YHWH has not changed His mind about His Sabbath (or any of the other commandments), I must follow through with obedience. I want to be obedient! Yeshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus) also made things clear when He said: "If you love Me, keep My commandments." (John 14:15)It's not easy to stop following the traditions you've always known, but it does get easier. My family and I have been keeping the Sabbath Day now for about five months, and we are finally getting into what I call a "Sabbath groove". It truly is a day that we all look forward to, knowing that YHWH created it for us - to rest. I know that there are many people who will disagree with our decision. Many people believe (as did we not long ago) that the Torah (or Old Testament in general, or the Law specifically) was "nailed to the cross", and that we are no longer "obligated" to keep it. But now I wonder, just what is it in the Torah that is so objectionable for Christians to follow? Aren't we supposed to "die to self"? (1 Peter 2:24) Don't get me wrong, there are some things that I still don't quite understand the why of, but I still want to be obedient - out of love for YHWH.

The bottom line is, even though the majority of Christians observe Sunday as their day of rest, we will choose to observe the day that YHWH commanded us to keep.

"Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and
put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in
Egypt, and serve the LORD. If
it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for
yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your
fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites
in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve
the LORD." Joshua 24:14-15 And as Peter said in Acts 5:29,

We must obey God rather than men.

For even more quotes and resources, check out the article "The First day of the week, the Lord's Day and Sabbath" found here.